Alyssa: After many lackluster dates and becoming slightly jaded by dating apps, I was ready to call it quits until I matched with Chris. He promised to buy me a coffee so long as I didn't make fun of his battery-operated mittens. We had our very first date on March 4, 2022, at Spyhouse Coffee in Northeast Minneapolis. Maybe it was the emo playlist blasting over the sound system, or Chris' height and majestic hair (RIP), or perhaps that the three hour long date only felt like ten minutes, but something about this particular date felt very different from the others. Three years later, I'm incredibly glad I gave the dating apps one last shot and it led me to the love of my life. Christopher: I was elated when a very beautiful lady from the dating app Hinge agreed to meet me for a coffee in early March three years ago. I was even happier when the date went well and we talked for hours with ease! After a few dates in Hopkins, Waconia, and several places in between, I was head over heels for Alyssa. Every chance we had to meet up was the highlight of my day / week / month. In that summer of 2022, after Alyssa flew out to Colorado and joined me for the whole drive back to Minnesota, I knew this was the love I had been dreaming of!

Sunday, November 3rd, 2024. We started by going to the Spyhouse Coffee in NE Minneapolis where we had our first date two years and eight months ago. We enjoyed some great drinks, some reading time, and some Italian practice. Around 11:00am we went to a super cool venue called CanCan Wonderland in St. Paul, another spot that was one of our early dates in our relationship. They have so many fun game machines plus the coolest mini golf course we've ever played. Alyssa got FOUR hole-in-ones! So fun! After working up an appetite we went to a cute restaurant that was new to us: Due Focacceria (also in St. Paul). Incredible sandwiches that reminded us of a place we visited in Florence, Italy almost one year ago to the day. Seriously, perhaps our new favorite restaurant in the cities! Chris whisked Alyssa over to the Weisman Art Museum on the University of Minnesota campus where we met up with Jonny and Emily! Alyssa had never been to this art museum before, and neither had Emily. We had a great time walking around and enjoying the art. If you haven't seen the building itself before you should Google it: Very artistic from the outside as well! At this point Chris convinced Alyssa to go outside to take a picture with the skyline of Minneapolis in the background. It's important to note that Chris had colluded with some camp staff and friends from Rainbow Trail Lutheran Camp (the place in Colorado where the two of us spent a week in August) to help send emails and text messages over the past couple days about a "new social media campaign" where people were asked to send in pictures. Alyssa very kindly went along with it, Emily and Jonny got their cameras out, and you can see the photos of the engagement on this website! After the happy “Yes!”, Chris shared with Alyssa that the mysterious dinner reservation the he had been teasing all day was actually a dinner date at Alyssa’s parents’ house with Arden, Paolo, Jonny, and Emily in attendance as well. All of our immediate families had been looped in weeks earlier and they kept it a secret! When we made it to the house there was plenty of celebrating, hugging, cheering, and delicious food eating. A lovely ending to a perfect day!